Katie: Having only seen a Cirque Du Soleil show about insects, I enjoyed the heartfelt, darker tone and mood of Volta’s storyline. I also liked that they explored themes of how technology can be a negative distraction and it can keep us from each other.

Garrett: Having never seen a Cirque du soleil show before, I was thoroughly impressed and entertained. I was mesmerized with what was going on. I liked some of the themes they explored but there were times where the story was hard to follow and didn’t really match was was happening in a scene.

K: Yeah, agreed, but overall I thought it was beautiful. The music, lighting and costumes were so great. The show feels like a concert, but also a dance show and also an exciting athletic event with acrobats and gymnasts.

G: Yeah, the vibe was really cool. The relationship between the performers and the audience is very unique, and different from anything I’ve seen. Everyone’s very encouraging because you understand that what they are parc aquatique gonflable doing is dangerous so there is applause when someone does something cool or when someone messes up they get love from the audience. Having driven past those tents hundreds of times over the years, it’s incredible to finally see what’s going on inside, and I like it. They create such a unique environment…you forget you’re in a freaking parking lot!

 The Verdict: Cirque Du Soliel shows are all about spectacle and Volta doesn’t disappoint. Bring a date, bring the fam, this show is for everyone.

The Drama Talk: Wow. How do they do it? You forget how difficult these things are because they make it seem so easy. Tricks off trampolines, with bikes and jump ropes, through hoops and in the air, there were like 100 athletic achievements being done and it was all pieced together with a story of a young man who has lost touch with himself because he’s different. The storyline has some cool, beautiful moments, but overall it didn’t quite feel cohesive. However, the incredible performers, music, and lighting make up for it.

The Drinks: There was free champagne at this performance as well as a bar so we decided not to venture, but if we did we were going to go to the Atwater Tavern since it’s pretty much in the same parking lot.

Volta plays through February 3rd under the Big Top at AT&T Park. Tickets range from $68-$290 and can be purchased on their website. Right now there are discounted tickets available on Goldstar.

Unfortunately there are only 3 performances over parc gonflable 2 days, which means we won’t be reviewing it, but we felt strongly that a show as unique as this needed a shout-out. We definitely recommend checking it out. We will be.

Photo by Ian Davis.

WHAT:

DEATH BECOME LIFE: BANISH DARKNESS - a future vision by Crowded Fire Theater, AXIS Dance Company, Star Finch, and Ensemble Mik Nawooj

WHERE:

Bayview Opera House Ruth Williams Memorial Theatre, 4705 3rd Street, San Francisco

WHEN:

November 16, 8:00pm

November 17, 3:00pm and 8:00pm

Tickets $25: Visit www.crowdedfire.org/dbl-banish-darkness for more information and to purchase tickets.

[via Brock]

Now please enjoy this classic post about some acrobatics on a moving BART train.

Julie Mahony as Cupid and Colin Epstein as Hermes. Photo by Andy Mogg.

Garrett: I’ve never seen anything quite like that. I liked the style of dancing with the acting thrown in. But the writing and acting weren’t very strong, so the rest of it needed to be really good. It was pretty impressive as far as the dancing…but it didn’t really do it for me overall. I was a little confused as to what is was about. It didn’t really take a stance one way or another on the style. They needed to either choose old school or modern dialogue. Instead they went back and forth.

Katie: I can sum up everything you are saying in one word: Inconsistent. Inconsistent performances, inconsistent use of movement, inconsistent story, inconsistent use of sound and lighting design. All around it didn’t have a strong foundation in one thing.

G: I really liked the lighting design and the sound effects that they did use, but yeah, it was inconsistent.

K: I loved the sound design. There were really good sound effects when characters were motioning with their hands or bodies….but also moments when they were shooting some sort of invisible energy from their hands at each other and there was no light or sound cue. To be consistent, there should have been some sort of sound there.

G: Yeah, I would have liked it more if they did the sound effects 100% of the time…it would have been more “graphic novel-ish”. They were talented dancers, and I like the style of fighting, tumbling, and acrobatic stuff, but other then a couple exceptions, it looked like a bunch of good dancers trying to act and it didn’t work for me.

K: There were really great moments in this piece when the movement, design and story were in harmony, but unfortunately that occurred only a few moments. The show just felt half baked to me.

The Verdict: Overall this is very unique and fun theater experience. Check it out if you love seeing something different opposed to something perfectly executed.

The Drama Talk: Great effort and heart went into this show. The movement was really beautiful and so was the stage combat choreography. Unfortunately, they fell short in regards to making this graphic novel inspired, greek mythology centered, theater, dance show come together in a way that worked. The piece wasn’t grounded enough in a clear consistent style and well crafted story.

The Drinks: Right across from the ODC is the Mission Bowling Club, which oddly enough I’ve never bowled there, but have really enjoyed their food and drinks. It was a great place to grab refreshing cocktail after a refreshing theater experience.

The Broken Knife runs through November 15th at ODC Theater. Tickets can be purchased directly through their website. Tickets are between $15-$45. ($45 Patron of the Arts, $25 Advance / $30 at the Door, $15 Senior (60+), $15 Student (with valid ID), $15 Child (12 and under), $15 Low Income)

A dance I've learned living in SF for 3 years: The Poo Poo Shuffle. Not quite as spicy as salsa but….

— Brenna Betts (@BrennBetts) June 9, 2015

We know how much you miss Diary, the original Mission emo night at Pop’s that sadly is no more, but rather than get all emo about it, now you’ve got another chance to sing along too loudly to Understanding in a Car Crash at the Knockout every month with Make Me a Mixtape!

Come and party like it’s 1997!

Playing the best 90s/00s old school emo,punk and post-hardcore tunes. All vinyl!

Friday 6-9pm

And the best part is they’re not even trying to trademark the term “Emo Night” like those doofuses down in LA.

Also, after the last American Football tune drowns out, go grab a couple tacos at Cancun and then pop back to the Knockout for Primo’s Oldies Night!  Look at that, I just planned out your whole Friday night.  Now do it to it!

There’s really no better party than a dance party, but have you ever been to a slow dance party?

The Dancehall of Beautiful Radiant Things is a slow dance club that welcomes dancers of all skill levels and non-dancers to share a night of vignette moment with strangers and friends. Attendees are given a dance card upon entry with 21 spots for 21 songs to be filled by you with other attendees.

We will begin with a simple lesson of the dancestep and then leave it to you to fill up your card. You do not need to be an accomplished dancer as the emphasis the interaction not the flair. Dress to the nines and come mingle with us for a night not to be forgotten.

It’s all happening at the Verdi Club this Wednesday at 8pm, and we’re giving away TWO FREE TICKETS!  To enter, just name your favorite song to dance to in the comments.  Contest ends at 4pm tomorrow!  Check out all the details here.

And for all the rest of you, get 20% of your tickets here!

So get ready to dance!

It’s like we ate Pitchfork, stole your iPod and then rode off on your track bike.

Check out all the details here.

Just because it’s cold and there’s a 100% chance of rain doesn’t mean you have to hideout in your house all day watching Netflix!  Or maybe it does.  But here’s a better idea:  dancing to the SMITHS and MISFITS all night!

Local heartthrobs Terry Malts are playing some tunes too, and who knows?  They might even play some Misfits covers!

Check it all out here.

But, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, times are changing, so now I suppose you’d better get used to this sort of sterile digital future:

And yes, I realize this is just Silent Disco and they’ve been doing it for years, so I guess I’m ok with it as long as the homeless folks get headphones too. To be clear, I’m not saying it’s bad, just different. Of course, this better not evolve into some sort of Demolition Man future sex.

[Photo by Sean Knox, via Dispatches from Entitlementistan]

I think they were probably dancing to something like…

[via American Tripps]

Andrew Ward (top) and Felipe Barrueto-Cabello (bottom) perform in Hush; photo by Margo Moritz

Z Space is one of our favorite live performance venues in San Francisco, not just because it’s a beautiful warehouse theater, with not a bad seat in the house, and an art gallery in the lobby but also because there is always something new and different. Last week they premiered Hush a dance-theater piece created by the Joe Goode Performance Group. It had been featured on the cover of Theatre Bay Area and has been generally buzzed about, so we were very excited at opening night . . . maybe too excited.

Brittany: There were a lot of good things about this show. They were all really talented dancers. The foley and music was awesome. I loved watching the sound effects happen live. The set was pretty cool. The problem was the story was disappointingly trite, so the piece didn’t live up to the hype.

Like any play, once the plot was established I felt like the relationships between the characters should be driving the piece, but that didn’t happen. They established that there were specific relationships between specific actors, and that those people were playing the same roles throughout the play, but they were so focused on dancing they didn’t let the relationships develop. Great dancers don’t necessarily make great actors I guess. It felt like the piece lacked an emotional through line.

If this same story was told in 30-40 mins, instead of an hour fifteen, I would have probably walked away feeling like this was a perfect dance-theater piece, but for me it dragged.

Katie: Right! Wow, I couldn’t have said it better . . . so I won’t even try.

The Verdict: Do you love, love, love dance pieces? You need to see this show! Are you more into a well told story that happens to have beautiful movement and awesome music, then we don’t think you will be blown away by this piece as a whole.

The Drama Talk: All the elements to make an amazing dance-theater piece were there: talented people, a very awesome space, insane cool music and sound effects, however this was one time the whole was not greater than the sum of its parts. Falling short on the storyline, and indulging in few too many artsy repetitions of dance movements, made the show a little long and as a whole get a little . . . [we so don’t want to say it, because we HATE this word] boring.

The Drinks: Since the characters worked a dive bar we thought it would be best to go to the Homestead a few blocks away. We got our usuals and poured one out for unrealistic expectations.

Hush runs through 10/5 at Z Space, and tickets can be purchased through their website. Ticket prices vary. You can get seats way in the back for $15-20, but the best seats in the house will run you closer to $65-70.

I always used to think of Thursdays as the “local’s Friday” in the Mission, since on actual Friday the neighborhood is inundated with revelers from other parts of the city and Bay area vomiting on sidewalks.  Of course, that was also back when Jack’s would host karaoke regularly on Thursdays, and just by walking around the Mission you would run into a friend who was on their way to a dance party or something and invited you along for the fun.

Thankfully, there’s a few places that have managed to retain their Friday magic, and the Knockout is definitely one of them.  Speaking of which, if you need me tonight, I’ll be swigging whiskey and sweating to the oldies on the dance floor.

Not the Puck one, but the new one who lives over off Polk by the Hemlock. Jaime Jams ran into one of them the other day and had this exchange:

I just walked down to the Real World House, and I met one of the girls, Jamie, who’s on the show. And she says “Yeah, totally we’ll bring the whole gang down” to Debaser. “TV cameras and all.” Haha.

Whether or not they actually show up, tonight’s Debaser should be a blast either way.

[Photo]